Chapter 1807
Let's try one of everything
Wang An had previously dined at this DJ restaurant.
On one occasion, Wang An came with Sun Nian, and on that occasion, he sold the four large paws of a brown bear to this restaurant for a high price of 200 yuan, plus a free meal.
Therefore, Wang An was familiar with the layout of this restaurant.
As soon as the group entered the restaurant, a woman dressed flamboyantly and with a rather alluring appearance immediately rushed up to greet them. She greeted Wu Dong and Zhang Shuya very warmly, and Wu Dong and the others responded enthusiastically.
It's clear that Wu Dong, Zhang Shuya, Ma Guoqiang, He Liang, Wang Shuai, and Sun Nian are all regulars at this DJ restaurant.
Furthermore, from how Wu Dong and Zhang Shuya addressed this woman, we can infer that she is the proprietress of this restaurant.
Wang An just didn't know where the second boss named Chen Gaoze had gone. He also wanted to talk business with him, because winter was coming soon and Wang An and Mu Xueli would inevitably have to go hunting in the mountains. If they caught too much game and couldn't eat it all, Wang An wanted to sell it to this restaurant at a high price.
Fortunately, there's no rush; things will happen sooner or later.
Led by the proprietress, Wang An and his group of seven went directly into a private room.
After everyone was seated, the proprietress didn't call a waiter in to help take orders. Instead, she personally served everyone, asking with a smile:
"Hey guys and two girls, what would you like to eat today?"
As she spoke, the proprietress placed the menu in front of Wu Dong.
It was obvious that the proprietress knew that Wu Dong was the highest-ranking person among them.
However, Wu Dong didn't even look at the menu; instead, he directly asked the proprietress:
"What unusual things have been happening lately? Tell me about those unusual things."
The proprietress said with a smile:
"Yesterday we caught a large red deer. The fishpond has sturgeon, mandarin fish, fine-scaled fish, and even turtles. There's grouse soup simmering in the pot, and frog oil is readily available. The freezer has frozen goose meat, pheasant meat, bear paws, as well as ribbonfish, prawns, abalone, and so on. Oh, and we also have roe deer meat."
And so, the proprietress listed a whole bunch of ingredients, and none of them were repeated.
It has to be admitted that restaurants like this, with four signs hanging on their walls, are indeed quite impressive. They basically have almost any food you can think of, truly living up to their service motto of "order whatever you want, we have it."
After the proprietress finished speaking, Wu Dong nodded and said:
"Okay, then let's have some braised deer tendon and shank meat, and some braised deer ribs."
Turning his head, Wu Dong asked Wang An and the others:
"What do you all want to eat? Let's each order one, otherwise we won't be able to eat too much."
After Wu Dong finished speaking, everyone took turns ordering food without any formalities.
Steamed frog oil, deep-fried small-scaled fish, sweet and sour mandarin fish, pheasant stewed with wild goose, and grouse soup—these five main dishes were named by Wang Shuai and his companions. Upon hearing that they had ordered only meat dishes, Wang An casually remarked:
"How about some cucumber salad?"
To everyone's surprise, after Wang An finished speaking, the proprietress smiled and said, "The cucumber salad is a free dish right now. If you want to eat cucumber salad next month, you'll have to pay for it."
In Heilongjiang Province, cucumbers are cheap and rotten in the summer, but more expensive than meat in the winter. Of course, in those days, it was a luxury and a difficult thing to eat fresh cucumbers in Heilongjiang Province in the winter.
However, the clever people of Heilongjiang Province came up with a good solution: drying cucumbers in the summer. The method is very simple: cut cucumbers into strips, coat them with wood ash, and then dry them in the sun and store them.
When winter comes, soak and wash them, then stir-fry or use them in cold dishes.
Upon hearing that the dishes were a gift, Wang An immediately asked with a look of delight:
"Free dishes? What other dishes do you offer as freebies? Let's have a plate of each and try them."
When Wang An said this, Wu Dong and Zhang Shuya were taken aback at first, then they all looked at Wang An and silently lowered their heads, as if they didn't know him.
However, Wang An didn't even glance at them, still looking at the proprietress with great interest, as if he was very interested in the complimentary dishes.
The proprietress raised an eyebrow, clearly taken aback by Wang An's question. She probably hadn't expected that the people who came to eat here would be so greedy for small gains.
However, someone who can afford to run such a large restaurant must have basic manners and manners. The proprietress quickly regained her smile and said:
"Besides smashed cucumber, our complimentary dishes include fried peanuts, stir-fried shredded potatoes, shredded cabbage in chili oil, cold dried tofu salad, and tofu salad with scallions. In addition to cold dishes, we also have eggplant stuffed with pickled vegetables, pickled scallion leaves, pickled radishes, and pickled cabbage dumplings."
After a pause, the proprietress asked with a slight frown:
"Should we have one of each of these complimentary dishes?"
Wang Ankabakab's eyes widened, and after thinking for a moment, he said:
"One dish of each is a bit too much. How about this, give me a little bit of each, and then you can give me a big plate and put them together on one big plate."
As he spoke, Wang An gestured a circle with his hands, indicating that a plate the size of his hands was sufficient.
Upon hearing this, the proprietress's eyes twitched several times, and her lips opened and closed repeatedly before she forced a smile and stammered:
"Okay, okay, then, then, okay, hehe, hehehehe, young man, would you like to order another dish?"
Wang An waved his hand, about to speak, but suddenly sensed the slightly awkward atmosphere. He glanced at Wu Dong and the others, then looked at the eight bottles of Wuliangye on the table, before clicking his tongue and saying:
"How about we have some willow shoots stir-fried with eggs?"
The proprietress paused for a moment before writing the dish down.
The willow shoots of this era were different from those of later times. They were worthless back then, so the dish Wang An ordered was actually not profitable for the restaurant.
Not only did they not make any money, but they also ended up having to give Wang An and the others a lot of food. What was most infuriating was that Wu Dong and the other seven people brought their own alcohol, so the restaurant didn't make a single penny from the drinks.
After the proprietress finished writing on the paper, she turned to look at Wu Dong and Zhang Shuya, perhaps wanting them to say something, or perhaps advising Wang An to ask for two less complimentary dishes.
At this moment, Wu Dong and Zhang Shuya were practically burying their heads on the table, clearly ashamed of Wang An's behavior.
Seeing that she couldn't rely on Wu Dong and Zhang Shuya, the proprietress withdrew her gaze and let out a soft sigh. (End of Chapter)